Since the earliest days of Instagram, people have been meeting up to take photos as a group but as the community around the world has grown exponentially, so too have the Instameets which the company recognized and eventually the concept picked up steam and subsequently paved the way to what is known now as a worldwide Instameet which takes place a few times a year and it’s organized by practically anyone who loves outing, exploring places, making friends and capturing the moments with the simplest gadgets they own.

This past weekend the 9th Worldwide Instameet (#thatnycmeet) took place and I attended the one organized by @jnsilva and @dave.krugman which initiated in Greepoint, Brooklyn and culminated in Williamsburg. The walk between one neighborhood to the other is short but the nonstop interaction and photographing among all the participants is unrelenting that we tend to care less about the final destination because there’s so much delight in the journey.

Typically I would gravitate more towards capturing portraits as oppose to random settings that we come across as we amble from street to street but this time around, I really wanted to create a consistent feel for any of the portraits I took. We’re naturally walking during the meet so it’s obvious that the environment for each portrait would vary but to counter that predicament, I brought with me a large cardboard wrapped with white poster paper and was fortunate to have several people assist me with propping it as a backdrop for all the portraits I took along the way. Normally I would have adhered white poster paper on a wall where the light wasn’t as harsh but that meant having to be stationary and it was imperative for me to move with the crowd, hence the rudimentary setup I opted to use.

For those of you are interested, here’s a quick rundown of what I utilized:

Prop 2: White Poster Board (they only had green display boards at the time so I bought this white poster board paper to mask the green)

My approach towards this small series as far as what I utilized is nothing novel and even if it were, I would honestly still share with you the process behind it because I love to be as transparent as possible with my work. I'm not the type that obsesses over keeping techniques and approaches well guarded because I invariably hope that anything I do could help someone else.

Overall I was very pleased with the final photographs and I have to admit at first I was a bit self-conscious about lugging with me this sizable board but after the first 3 portraits the embarrassment dwindled and the confidence took over.